Some children choose to be soldiers, study finds

Child soldiers are commonly seen as helpless victims of unscrupulous recruiters. But most are not.

“I was recruited by someone from my neighbourhood who knew about my troubles. My grandmother, who looked after me, had died. My boss had died too, so I had lost my job in the workshop. When the rebels occupied our town, my neighbour joined them. He persuaded me to tag along, so I would be able to make some money.”

A 17-year old boy recounted his experience as a soldier in the newly published Youngest Recruits – Pre-war, post-war experiences in western Côte d’Ivoire. Its author, Magali Chelpi-den Hamer, earned a Ph.D. at the University of Amsterdam’s International Development Studies programme. As a part of her research, she recorded the stories of 50 former child soldiers who in 2002 and 2003 participated in the brutal civil war that tore Ivory Coast in two.

The interviewees were between 14 to 18 at the time Chelpi conducted her research, in 2006 and 2007. The youngest said he was recruited when he was only 10 years old. Chelpi looked into the pre-war activities of these youngsters, hoping not only to reconstruct their motives for joining armed gangs, but also to determine what they had experienced during the war and thereafter. The picture these conversations paint is not one of defenceless children, but one of strong individuals, defending their own interests, and their families’, under trying circumstances.

Exploited vicitms? Perhaps not

International public perception of child soldiers was partially shaped by the dirty wars conducted in Sierra Leone and Uganda in the 1990s and 2000s. Here, minors were recruited into rebel groups by force, drugged and forced to commit horrible acts. This stereotypical image of child soldiers dominates campaigns conducted by NGOs like War Child: their fundraising uses the images of defenceless victims of manipulation and coercion by unscrupulous adults.

Chelpi’s research, conducted in a resocialisation centre for former child soldiers in Man, a city on the front lines of the Ivorian civil war, paints a far more nuanced picture. Most of Chelpi’s subjects had dropped out of school before hostilities began. Sometimes for lack of money, sometimes because they had lost all appetite for education, or because they wanted to work.

Most provided for themselves, be it by working on the land, as an apprentice in a workshop, as a busboy or selling fruit or water. Many of Chelpi’s subjects no longer lived with their parents, because they were divorced, dead, or could no longer care for them.

Only a minority was coerced into joining a government or rebel militia, according to the study. Most told Chelpi they had other motives for becoming soldiers: self defence, protecting their parents or relatives, a lack of better options, or the fact that becoming a soldier was the only way to gain access to food for a prolonged period of time. Some didn’t join until a brother or sister had already done so. Others did because they found themselves alone, with no means to provide for themselves, surrounded by soldiers.

Young, willing and able

Under circumstances like those, Chelpi said, joining a militia was a reasonable choice for these children. “Where there is total breakdown of society, armed groups may provide the only source of refuge and safety,” she said, quoting the American anthropologist David Rosen.

“Most children were not passively drafted into service. Even the youngest were able to reflect and adequately respond to circumstances. The overriding motive was to stay alive and protect their caretakers. When soldiers crossed their path, all they did make a strategic decision,” Chelpi said in an interview discussing her work.

Only a few of the young recruits actually took part in combat, but they did serve on the front lines. Most child soldiers were armed, but they carried out a wide range of tasks: messenger jobs, manning checkpoints, guarding prisoners and weapon stockpiles, cooking, cleaning, and collecting cigarettes for older recruits.

Some are coerced

Some former child soldiers said they had done things against their will. “That applied mostly to those who had been recruited by mercenaries from Liberia and had been coerced into doing things they would have refused to do under normal circumstances: extortion, larceny, torturing prisoners. These children felt like they were constantly under threat,” Chelpi said.

International law does not forbid the recruitment of minors. According to UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, states are only required to take “all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities”.

Humanitarian NGOs campaigned for stricter laws in the 1990s, with limited success. An optional protocol dating from 2000 raised the age limit for partaking in armed combat to 18. David Rosen called this process the “globalisation of childhood”.

Not all minors are childlike

“NGOs draw a clear line between youth and adulthood and imply it is universal. But it varies according to circumstances. In developing nations people start providing for themselves at a young age. Environment and experience play an important part in developing cognitive skills, personality and behaviour. There are no universal definitions of ‘child’ and ‘adult’. International organisations underestimate older children and overestimate adults when it comes to their vulnerability and susceptibility to manipulation. Teenagers in Africa are more self-reliant than NGOs would like to admit,” Chelpi said.

Chelpi does not argue teenagers should be armed, but she warns that underestimating the capabilities of 15 to 18-year-olds could lead to problems in programmes aimed at resocialising former child soldiers.

“These programmes assume soldiers under 18 cannot take care of themselves after they are demobilised. Personally, I was struck by the self-reliance of the former child soldiers in Ivory Coast. Even before they were recruited, these children often were capable of making responsible decisions and take care of themselves under trying circumstances,” Chelpi said.

After being demobilised most former child soldiers choose not to return to school, but to work for themselves. Resocialisation programmes do not make this an easy option.

Old enough to wield an AK

“The commonly held view of child soldiers is that they are ‘doomed’. People think they won’t be able to fend for themselves as civilians and that their extreme experiences leave them predisposed to use violence. They are thought to be incapable of spending financial aid wisely after being demobilised and are considered easy targets for their former commanders who are after their money,” Chelpi said.

Chelpi has a different view. “Educational programmes for former child soldiers hit a dead end after the programme’s conclusion, even though the students have not yet been provided with the financial means to support themselves, like a microfinance loan. It can be very frustrating if you are considered old enough to carry a Kalasjnikov, but too young to handle a few hundred dollars in cash.”